The Man With Bogart's Face

Every purchase you make through these Amazon links supports DVD Verdict's reviewing efforts. Thank you!

All Rise...

The Charge

Here's looking at the stuff that dreams are made of.

Opening Statement

Robert Sacchi, born in the Bronx, is one of several Bogart impersonators that
have been active over the past few decades ever since the Bogart cult surfaced
on university campuses in the 1960s. Of them all, Sacchi's efforts probably come
closest to actually recreating the Bogart persona—from his facial features
to the Bogart twitch and other body language. In 1980, Sacchi starred in a film
entitled The Man with Bogart's Face, an independent production released
through Twentieth Century Fox. The film is an affectionate tribute to Bogart,
the hard-boiled detective, and Hollywood films of the 1940s. Image Entertainment
has now made The Man with Bogart's Face available on DVD in quite a
nice-looking transfer.

Facts of the Case

After plastic surgery to transform his face into that of Humphrey Bogart, our
hero sets up shop as a private detective under the name of Sam Marlow
("$200 a day plus expenses"). He soon acquires a rather dizzy Marilyn
Monroe-like secretary he calls "duchess." Cases at first are hard to
come by, but finally he meets up with Elsa, a woman whose father—a former
film props master—has been murdered. While investigating, Marlow runs into
a number of individuals who seem to have an unusual interest in the murdered
man. They include a Commodore Anastas (a Sydney Greenstreet-like Greek tycoon),
his Gene Tierney-like daughter, a rich Turkish rival named Hakim, Mr. Zebra (a
Peter Lorre-like figure), and Zinderneuf (a Lionel Atwill lookalike). It turns
out that all are interested in finding two lost blue sapphires known as the
"Eyes of Alexander." Elsa is soon murdered also and Marlow is drawn
into a dizzying maze of intrigue that is only resolved after a visit to Catalina
Island and a rendezvous on the high seas.

The Evidence

The Man with Bogart's Face is a film that could very easily have gone
very wrong. It's difficult to do these sorts of tributes to/recreations of the
past without the main characters seeming very contrived and the whole atmosphere
feeling completely artificial. This can particularly be the case when one
presents in colour an era that the audience normally associates with black and
white.

It's therefore a great pleasure to be able to report that this film seems to
have avoided all such pitfalls quite effectively. Obviously, the screenplay (by
Andrew J. Fenady from his own novel) was written with great affection for Bogart
and the films of the 1940s. It's peppered with situations that are reminiscent
of various Bogart films and lovingly refers to scenes and players in other films
of the era. Ably communicating the script's affection for a person and an era is
a fine cast.

Of that cast, credit must primarily go to Robert Sacchi, whose Bogart
impersonation is right on the money and at times uncanny in its accuracy. In
addition to being a good impersonator both facially and physically, it helps
that Sacchi can actually act creditably also, for he's on camera virtually
throughout the film. An evocative supporting cast plays all its characters
completely straight. Thanks to director Robert Day (a veteran who has had a
wealth of experience in North American television after coming to the U.S. from
his native England in the 1960s), there's no suggestion of any sort of
tongue-in-cheek approach that could alienate part of the audience. The main
supporting roles are well-played by seasoned pros including Franco Nero (Hakim),
Victor Buono (Anastas), Herbert Lom (Mr. Zebra), and Jay Robinson (Zinderneuf).
Showing up in small cameos are veteran players such as Mike Mazurki, Yvonne De
Carlo, Victor Sen Yung, George Raft, and Henry Wilcoxon.

The DVD of The Man with Bogart's Face comes to us courtesy of Image
Entertainment. The presentation is in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1,
anamorphically enhanced, and utilizing 16 scene selections. This is a
fine-looking image—crisp and clean with colours accurately rendered and
very little edge enhancement of consequence. There are a few instances of
softness to the image, but they appear to arise from the original source
material rather than representing a problem with the transfer. High marks to
Image on this one.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

I turn here to the sound. Not that there's anything wrong with what we get.
The delivery is in Dolby Digital Mono—what else for a film focusing on the
1940s—and it's a nice clear track that presents the dialogue throughout
and the songs over the opening and closing credits quite adequately. For some
strange reason, however, Image has decided that it also needs to present the
limited musical score on an isolated mono track as the disc's lone special
feature. Why? There's nothing about the score to warrant such a decision. Does
Image now feel it needs to boost the desirability of its discs by being able to
advertise supplements on them, since it's received some flak for its lack of
extra material in the past? Far better to let the film stand for itself than add
supplements of questionable value. Given the nature of the film's cast, efforts
would have been better spent on delivering some informative cast bios and
filmographies.

Closing Statement

The Man with Bogart's Face is quite an entertaining little item. It
succeeds admirably in reminding us of the virtues of the 1940s hard-boiled
detective film and what we lost when Bogart departed the scene. There are so
many connections to films of the 1940s that you're likely to miss some on a
first viewing, making repeated viewings still entertaining. Image makes that
easy also with a pleasing transfer. Recommended.